The set-top box (“STB”) has become an important computing device for accessing media content services and the media content within those services. An STB is typically connected to a cable or satellite, or generally, a subscriber television system, and includes hardware and software necessary to provide the functionality of the subscriber television system at a user site.
The accessibility of media content over a subscriber television system has been traditionally limited to users of STBs that are located within a geographic area served by the subscriber television system. Accordingly, people located outside of the geographic area served by a subscriber television system and/or away from their STBs are generally unable to access the media content provided by the subscriber television system.
Moreover, traditional STBs are limited with respect to their capabilities for processing media content. For example, a conventional subscriber television system generally uses a particular media format to provide media content to subscribers via STBs. Accordingly, traditional STBs are configured to process the particular media format but are not equipped with capabilities for processing certain other media formats. A user of a conventional STB is consequently limited to experiencing media content provided to the STB in particular media formats over a subscriber television network.